It’s a golden age for Five Counties Children’s Centre, as it marks 50 years in 2025 of supporting local children and youth with physical, developmental, and communication needs.
Providing care closer to home for kids and their families was the main motivator behind the Centre opening its doors on Dutton Road in Peterborough on October 2, 1975.
In the early 1970s, Rotary Clubs across the region spearheaded the project and, with the support of local leaders and families of children with disabilities, convinced the provincial government to support construction of Five Counties. It meant kids and families didn’t have to drive to Oshawa, Kingston or Toronto for treatment.
Over five decades, Five Counties has expanded to offer more services and sites to help countless kids and youth in our community. It’s their stories — like Mike Hannah’s — that tell Five Counties’ story.
The Kawartha Lakes resident, who was inducted into the Lindsay and District Sports Hall of Fame in 2016, is well-known for his athletic exploits and charity work. Born with cerebral palsy, Mike credits Five Counties for helping him hit the ground running.
That relationship started for Mike as a child when he began receiving speech therapy and occupational therapy at Five Counties in 1976. That was only a year after Five Counties opened its doors in Peterborough as a children’s treatment centre to serve the entire region.
“I would probably not be where I am today — Five Counties changed my life,” Mike says.
Back then, Five Counties didn’t have a presence in Lindsay (that didn’t come until 1981), so Mike and a handful students from other schools in and around what was then known as Victoria County were bused twice a week to the Centre in Peterborough for treatment.
Mike remembers working with his speech therapist on his language skills, as well as other Centre staff who assisted with his walking, movement and balance.
“I really improved a lot,” he says, noting the determination and support of his parents made a big difference too.
Mike also has fond memories of attending Camp Omigolly, a summer day camp offered at Emily Provincial Park for Five Counties clients. Being able to play and interact with other kids who had disabilities also let him know he wasn’t alone.
But it was being introduced by Five Counties to the “disabled games” in 1981 that really put Mike on the path to his life-long passion for sports.
That year, Peterborough was hosting what was then called the Games for the Disabled and 12-year-old Mike successfully hit his stride, winning two gold and two silver medals in track and field events.
“Five Counties got me into sports, so that really opened up for me a whole different view of what I could accomplish,” Mike recalls.
Over the next two decades, Mike would win dozens of medals at regional, provincial, and national track-and-field competitions. He set many records and made many friends along the way as he took part in running, swimming, shot put, discus, javelin, hammer throw, and other events.
With Five Counties marking its 50th anniversary in 2025, Mike is grateful to share what the Centre has helped him achieve — just as he wants to inspire others with disabilities.
“If I can show to other kids, it doesn’t matter whether you have a disability or not, you can still achieve things,” Mike says. “Hopefully they can see, if he can do it, I can do it.”
To learn more about the past 50 years of Five Counties Children’s Centre, visit www.fivecounties.on.ca/50years.
